The shore bird known as the "red knot," makes an 18,000 mile round-trip each year. It goes from winter grounds near the southern tip of South America to breeding grounds north of the Arctic circle. It's believed most red knots only live long enough to make the trip about a handful of times. But one bird, banded back in 1995, has been spotted almost continuously since and has just re-appeared on the shores of Deleware Bay. Maine-based author Phil Hoose wrote about the bird, known by his band number: B-95 in a book entitled "Moonbird."

Earth Day is Sunday. The idea originated with a grown-up, but as Portland author Phil Hoose tells us, it wasn't long before children became an important part of Earth Day and the environmental movement.

In the fall of 1621--or so the story goes--the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving feast in North America. It was organized by the colony's governor, William Bradford, to celebrate a successful harvest after what had been a long and difficult year. The Pilgrims, a religious sect unhappy with their ability to keep their faith in Europe, had endured a difficult ocean crossing in the fall of 1620 and had landed far north of their intended destination, near the present-day New York. They wound up off the coast of present-day Massachusetts and settled, learning important lessons from Native Americans in the area, some of whom were invited to that first harvest feast.  But what about the kids? Portland author Phil Hoose tells their side of the story in his book "Were Were There, Too!: Young People in U.S. History."  We have Part 2 of Irwin Gratz's talk with the National Book Award winner.

Portland Author Phil Hoose has gathered the stories of children who were part of U.S. history for his book, "We Were There Too." And he's been sharing some of those stories here on holidays. On this Fourth of July, Hoose reminds us that children played adult-like roles before, during and in the years just after the war for independence. 

For Memorial Day, the day America remembers its war dead, Portland author Phil Hoose joins Irwin Gratz to talk about the key roles children played, even in times of war. Hoose says there's a tradition of under-age kids serving in the military that stretches at least as far back as the Civil War:

<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Two 15-year-old baseball players who got their professional start during World War II are among the young people featured in Portland Author Phil Hoose's book, "We Were There Too: Young People in U.S. History." As spring training season arrives, Hoose talks with MPBN's Irwin Gratz about the two youngest pro baseball players ever.</span></p>

Child labor was commonplace in the U.S. -- and legal -- until the 1930s. Children had long worked on family farms, but Portland author Phil Hoose, a National Book Award winner, points out that the first nine factory workers in U.S. history were children, each under the age of 12, who, in 1790, when to work in a textile mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hoose talks with MPBN Morning Edition host Irwin Gratz.

The history of the American Revolution, from King George to George Washington, is filled with stories about grown-ups. But Portland-based author Phil Hoose spent six years researching and writing a book about the often-overlooked role of youth in our national story. The book, titled "We Were There Too! Young People in U.S. History," was a National Book Award finalist in 2001. Hoose talked with Irwin Gratz about some of the ways youth were involved in early American history.